Industrial Workers of the Worldhttps://www.iww.org
Preamble to the IWW Constitution.enPortland, OR: Burgerville Singles Out One Worker for Retaliation Following Strikehttps://www.iww.org/content/portland-or-burgerville-singles-out-one-worker-retaliation-following-strike
<p><strong>By Burgerville Workers Union - <a href="https://itsgoingdown.org/portland-burgerville-singles-one-worker-retaliation-following-strike/" target="_blank"><em>It's Going Down</em></a>, February 16, 2018</strong></p>
<p><em><img src="https://www.iww.org/sites/default/files/images/5-13-1068x648.jpg" width="320" height="194" align="right" alt="" />The following report from the Burgerville Workers Union states that management has come down against one pro-union worker of color since the end of the historic three day strike. To learn more about the strike, </em><a href="https://itsgoingdown.org/audio-report-burgerville-workers-union-finish-three-day-strike/" target="_blank"><em>check out our audio report podcast here</em></a><em>.</em></p>
<p>Burgerville chose to celebrate Valentine&rsquo;s Day yesterday by retaliating against a union leader. Michelle, a worker at the Convention Center Burgerville who participated in our historic three day long strike, was just suspended by management for allegedly taking a chicken patty without permission.</p>
<p>Though retaliation against union members under trumped up &ldquo;theft&rdquo; accusations is a pattern at Burgerville, Michelle&rsquo;s suspension demonstrates a particularly disturbing unders<span class="text_exposed_show">ide to that pattern. Along with Arsenio and Canaan, Michelle is the third pro-union worker of color to be fired by Convention Center management in as many weeks, a management which remains entirely white despite the diversity of the crew. </span></p>
<p><span class="text_exposed_show">In the targeting of union members of color at the Convention Center, to put it bluntly, we see not only union busting but outright racism. These attacks on our jobs and our families by Burgerville corporate are not just against Burgerville workers, but rather against the rights and power of the Portland community as a whole.</span></p>
<p>The BVWU does not take this lightly. In addition to Arsenio, Canaan, and Michelle, two other pro-union workers at stores that went on strike have been fired or suspended for similar charges within the last few months. Though Burgerville claims to be an ethical, locally minded fast food company, their wages keep workers in poverty, and when those workers try to better their lives, they are threatened with firing.</p>
<p>In Michelle&rsquo;s suspension, we see Burgerville perpetuating an atmosphere of fear and racism in order to fight the union, and we are currently in talks with our allies around Portland as well as our legal counsel as to how to best proceed. Please stay tuned &ndash; moments like these, when people&rsquo;s jobs are on the line, are when we need our supporters the most.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.iww.org/content/portland-or-burgerville-singles-out-one-worker-retaliation-following-strike" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Portland IDCBurgervilleRestaurant, Hotel, and Building Service Workers I.U. 640Thu, 22 Feb 2018 02:08:49 +0000IWW.org Editor9080 at https://www.iww.orgAnarchist Union Reverses Firings at Port of Barcelona Through Militant Strikehttps://www.iww.org/content/anarchist-union-reverses-firings-port-barcelona-through-militant-strike
<p><em>by</em><strong> IWW International Solidarity Commission</strong></p>
<p>Dockworkers and members of the CNT, a revolutionary anarchist union in Spain, have won a complete victory after just 1 day on strike, forcing the company to rehire 3 workers it had attempted to fire.</p>
<div class="twitter-tweet"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">&quot;THIS IS HOW SOMEONE GETTING FIRED ENDS in the <a href="https://twitter.com/portdebarcelona?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@portdebarcelona</a>. Picture for the history books. Strike committee and fired workers (REINSTATED today) walk out with signed agreement.&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/cnt1910?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cnt1910</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/PortuariosCNT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PortuariosCNT</a> <a href="https://t.co/rKiKmExs71">https://t.co/rKiKmExs71</a></p>
<p>&mdash; ellisonfitz (@EllisonFitz) <a href="https://twitter.com/EllisonFitz/status/964429172318679040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote></div><p><a href="https://www.iww.org/content/anarchist-union-reverses-firings-port-barcelona-through-militant-strike" target="_blank">read more</a></p>All BranchesSat, 17 Feb 2018 16:29:12 +0000x3807039078 at https://www.iww.orgAudio Report: Burgerville Workers Union Finish Three Day Strikehttps://www.iww.org/content/audio-report-burgerville-workers-union-finish-three-day-strike
<p><strong>By Burgerville Workers Union - <a target="_blank" href="https://itsgoingdown.org/audio-report-burgerville-workers-union-finish-three-day-strike/"><em>It's Going Down</em></a>, February 6, 2018</strong></p>
<p class="powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3"><img src="https://www.iww.org/sites/default/files/images/1-4.jpg" width="320" height="185" align="right" alt="" />Podcast: <a target="_blank" href="https://ia601505.us.archive.org/26/items/bvwustrikeint/bvwustrikeint.mp3" class="powerpress_link_pinw" target="_blank" title="Play in new window" rel="nofollow">Play in new window</a> | <a target="_blank" href="https://ia601505.us.archive.org/26/items/bvwustrikeint/bvwustrikeint.mp3" class="powerpress_link_d" title="Download" rel="nofollow">Download</a></p>
<p class="powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links">Subscribe: <a target="_blank" href="https://subscribeonandroid.com/itsgoingdown.org/feed/podcast/" class="powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_android" title="Subscribe on Android" rel="nofollow">Android</a> | <a target="_blank" href="https://itsgoingdown.org/feed/podcast/" class="powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss" title="Subscribe via RSS" rel="nofollow">RSS</a></p>
<p>In this audio report, we talked to someone with the <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/BVWkrUnion">Burgerville Workers Union (BVWU)</a>, which is a part of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a revolutionary anti-capitalist union founded in 1905. The Burgerville campaign went public in 2016, and in the past several years, has launched a series of strikes, job actions, pickets, and various campaigns in the face of an ongoing anti-union crackdown.</p>
<p>In response to this repression, members of BVWU have built relationships with various local groups and unions, who have in turn brought people to walk pickets lines and often serve free hamburgers outside of Burgerville stores during various job actions. To learn more about this back story, check out our previous podcast interviews with <a target="_blank" href="https://itsgoingdown.org/igdcast-take-job-organize/">BVWU members here</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://itsgoingdown.org/igdcast-service-workers-revolt/">here</a>.</p>
<p>In this interview, we specifically talk about the recent three day strike launched by BVWU, which grew to include four stores in total who were involved in the strike. Over the course of three days, IWW members picketed stores, encouraged customers not to pay patronage to the business across the city, held rallies which were joined in solidarity with other unions, and also announced the &ldquo;<a target="_blank" href="http://www.boycottburgerville.com/">Boycott Burgerville</a>&rdquo; campaign.</p>
<p>While certainly not the first or only large scale fast-food worker strike, the Burgerville campaign is historic, and represents the growing capacity of rank-n-file workers to self-organize and take action where they are to fight back against their bosses and conditions in a rapidly gentrifying city.</p>
<p><strong>More Info:</strong> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/burgervilleworkersunion">Burgerville Workers Union</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://bvwu-strike-hardship-fundraiser-february-2018-26126.causevox.com/">Donate</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.boycottburgerville.com/">Boycott Burgerville</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.iww.org/content/audio-report-burgerville-workers-union-finish-three-day-strike" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Portland IDCBurgervilleRestaurant, Hotel, and Building Service Workers I.U. 640Thu, 08 Feb 2018 01:32:40 +0000IWW.org Editor9075 at https://www.iww.orgBurgerville Strike Spreads to Four Stores as Three Day Strike Endshttps://www.iww.org/content/burgerville-strike-spreads-four-stores-three-day-strike-ends
<p><strong>By Burgerville Workers Union - <a href="https://itsgoingdown.org/burgerville-strike-spreads-four-stores-three-day-strike-ends/" target="_blank"><em>It's Going Down</em></a>, February 4, 2018</strong></p>
<p align="center"><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fburgervilleworkersunion%2Fvideos%2F1518429728283856%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>On Saturday, February 3rd, members of the Burgerville Workers Union, (BVWU), a part of the revolutionary anti-capitalist labor union, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), announced that a third and fourth store had officially joined the strike. Meanwhile, Burgerville Workers Union members also announced a public boycott of the store as pickets continued over the weekend. On Sunday, the union announced that it was ending its three day strike and that on Monday, workers would be returning to work, however the struggle would continue.</p>
<p align="center"><img src="https://www.iww.org/sites/default/files/images/2-6.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="397" /></p>
<p><a href="https://www.iww.org/content/burgerville-strike-spreads-four-stores-three-day-strike-ends" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Portland IDCBurgervilleRestaurant, Hotel, and Building Service Workers I.U. 640Thu, 08 Feb 2018 01:28:14 +0000x3445439074 at https://www.iww.orgBurgerville Strike Spreads Into Second Store, Pickets Continuehttps://www.iww.org/content/burgerville-strike-spreads-second-store-pickets-continue
<p><strong>By Burgerville Workers Union - <a href="https://itsgoingdown.org/burgerville-strike-spreads-second-store-pickets-continue/" target="_blank"><em>It's Going Down</em></a>, February 4, 2018</strong></p>
<p align="center"><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fburgervilleworkersunion%2Fvideos%2F1516412885152207%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;"><em>Yesterday, fast food workers and members of the Burgerville Workers Union (BVWU), a part of the revolutionary anti-capitalist union the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), launched a strike at the Burgerville USA chain in Portland, Oregon. Today, they announced that the strike had spread to yet another store. Below are updates from the </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/burgervilleworkersunion/" target="_blank"><em>Burgerville Workers Union</em></a><em> social media accounts.</em>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>On <a href="https://www.facebook.com/burgervilleworkersunion/" target="_blank">February 2nd the union announced</a>:</p>
<blockquote class="td_quote_box td_box_center">
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #000000;">ANOTHER STRIKE! Today at 11:15 a.m. union workers at the 25th and Powell store delegated management and walked off the job on strike. Union members and supporters are out picketing the store now and have been providing pizza to Cleveland High School students and staff who&rsquo;ve joined them on the picket lines! This is the second store to walk out in as many days, and wiith Convention Center workers on day two of their strike, this is now the largest strike in BVWU history! Convention Center workers: we got your back! Special thanks for the purple solidarity we received from SEIU 49!&nbsp;</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #000000;">The Burgerville Workers Union has been hard at work for months now to empower workers and organize a strike. Yesterday, we got to see all those hours of hard work and planning come to fruition after the walkout and strike performed at the Convention Center location. Now is the time for Burgerville Corporate to hear what we&rsquo;ve been trying to communicate for years. As workers, we deserve better.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.iww.org/content/burgerville-strike-spreads-second-store-pickets-continue" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Portland IDCBurgervilleRestaurant, Hotel, and Building Service Workers I.U. 640Thu, 08 Feb 2018 01:19:32 +0000IWW.org Editor9073 at https://www.iww.orgFast Food Workers in Portland Launch Strike at Burgervillehttps://www.iww.org/content/fast-food-workers-portland-launch-strike-burgerville
<p><strong>By Burgerville Workers Union - <a href="https://itsgoingdown.org/fast-food-workers-portland-launch-strike-burgerville/" target="_blank"><em>It's Going Down</em></a>, February 1, 2018</strong></p>
<p><em><img src="https://www.iww.org/sites/default/files/images/RAFfightracism-1-1068x625_0.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="187" align="right" />In Portland, Oregon, fast food workers with Burgerville USA have walked off the job and launched a strike. In recent months, more Burgerville workers in a variety of stores have joined the union, the revolutionary anti-capitalist Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). What follows is a direct report and announcement on the strike from the Burgerville Workers Union. Follow their social media accounts on </em><a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/BVWkrUnion"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/burgervilleworkersunion"><em>Facebook</em></a><em> for up to the minute updates, and be sure to check </em><a target="_blank" href="https://itsgoingdown.org/?s=Burgerville+Workers+Union"><em>our past coverage of their struggle</em></a><em> as well as </em><a target="_blank" href="https://itsgoingdown.org/igdcast-service-workers-revolt/"><em>their appearances</em></a><em> on </em><a target="_blank" href="https://itsgoingdown.org/igdcast-take-job-organize/"><em>our podcast</em></a><em>.</em></p>
<p>Workers at the Convention Center Burgerville just walked off the job, launching a strike and kickstarting the biggest weekend of action yet from the Burgerville Workers Union.</p>
<p>April will mark the BVWU&rsquo;s second anniversary of going public. Since 2016, our demands have largely remained the same: fair wages, consistent scheduling, and affordable health care. We as a union have grown since then. We have found new ways to support each other, and<span class="text_exposed_show">&nbsp;we have won victories in the workplace that make the weight of our day to day lives easier to bear.</span></p>
<p>Despite all of this, however, Burgerville still refuses to negotiate with the union. The company continues to ignore the voices of its workers, prioritizing profits over the human needs of the workers who make those profits possible.</p>
<p>We are on strike today because no one deserves to live in poverty. Life in Portland only gets harder &ndash; rents go up, groceries get more expensive, and Burgerville wages stay unlivable.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.iww.org/content/fast-food-workers-portland-launch-strike-burgerville" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Portland IDCBurgervilleRestaurant, Hotel, and Building Service Workers I.U. 640Thu, 08 Feb 2018 01:12:46 +0000IWW.org Editor9072 at https://www.iww.orgIndustrial Worker: 2018: No 1782https://www.iww.org/content/industrial-worker-2018-no-1782
<p><strong>By editor - <em>Industrial Worker</em>, February 1, 2018</strong></p>
<p><img src="https://www.iww.org/sites/default/files/images/IW2018A.jpg" alt="" align="right" width="320" height="414" />The brightly colored art on the cover of IW is one of a large series of paintings and drawings of working men, women, and children by Mexican artist Alfredo Ramos Martinez. Fifteen years older than his more well-known compatriot Diego Rivera, Ramos Martinez blazed the path for the Mexican Modernist movement in his paintings and murals. While Ramos Martinez's works did not romanticize, they offered serene depictions of Mexicans at work and at home in rural and small-town settings. The art that Rivera would create&mdash;especially his fresco murals&mdash;would be full of machinery, toil, action, bosses, and class-conscious workers.</p>
<p>This quarter's theme is &quot;Wobblies and Workers in the Arts.&quot; An article by FW Raymond Solomon looks at TV sitcom depictions of working people starting in the 1940s (radio and a film, first) and 1950s and jumping to the 1970s and 1980s. Few sitcoms are solely comedic, and it's when looking at jobs, pay, and the need for both that situations get serious. Another piece, by a lover of film who has run movie theaters, taught film programs to children and high school students, and currently books films for several &quot;arthouses&quot; across the U.S., chooses six films that show work and working people living lives their jobs affect immeasurably.</p>
<p>Wobblies John Kaniecki and Craig Bledsoe look at two different kinds of art: Kaniecki is a writer and poet, and he describes what and who inspire and &quot;move&quot; him to create art in words. Bledsoe chooses the Industrial Revolution as the point at which to start his analysis of visual arts and the movements that developed out of social and political changes and the philosophies that defined them. And I asked a friend whom I've seen grow up over the last 14 years to watch Cradle Will Rock, Tim Robbins' 1999 film, with me and then write about it. She may not have realized it, but her take on the movie&mdash;which is about the heady period in the 1930s where unemployment and poverty were devastating but art was allowed to flourish through the WPA, the Roosevelt Administration's program that employed artists and writers of all kinds to create and teach art to a dispirited population&mdash;is very much one of a young woman who is looking ahead at most of her life, while she does everything she can to maintain her optimism in the face of a daunting present.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.iww.org/content/industrial-worker-2018-no-1782" target="_blank">read more</a></p>All BranchesIndustrial WorkerFri, 02 Feb 2018 01:41:14 +0000x3445439059 at https://www.iww.orgPortland, OR: Burgerville Workers Union Pickets and Expands Into More Storeshttps://www.iww.org/content/portland-or-burgerville-workers-union-pickets-and-expands-more-stores
<p><strong>By BVWU - <a href="https://itsgoingdown.org/burgerville-union-pickets-expands-into-more-stores/" target="_blank"><em>It's Going Down</em></a>, January 25, 2018</strong></p>
<p align="center"><img src="https://www.iww.org/sites/default/files/images/1a-9-1068x610_0.jpg" alt="" height="366" width="640" /></p>
<p>On Wednesday, January 24th, the Burgerville Workers Union (BWU) held its first picket of 2018 outside of a Burgerville store in Portland. BWU is a part of the revolutionary anti-capitalist union, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and in the past year has grown to include workers in a variety of stores across the chain. Burgerville, which brands itself as a &ldquo;local&rdquo; and &ldquo;woke&rdquo; large fast food corporation, has refused to negotiate with BWU, and has even hired anti-union goons in an attempt to stop the IWW, as well as firing various organizers over trivial incidents.</p>
<p align="center">&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Happening Now: Demonstrators picket for Burgerville Workers Union at NE Multnomah &amp; MLK <a href="https://t.co/CL28DDCU4R">pic.twitter.com/CL28DDCU4R</a></p>
&mdash; Portland State Vanguard (@psuvanguard) <a href="https://twitter.com/psuvanguard/status/956360350542086144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p align="center">&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Reps from Carpenters Union displayed giant rat outside NE MLK Burgerville in support of Union Workers picket line. <a href="https://t.co/TIqXPo6qeZ">pic.twitter.com/TIqXPo6qeZ</a></p>
&mdash; Portland State Vanguard (@psuvanguard) <a href="https://twitter.com/psuvanguard/status/956362754331353088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><a href="https://www.iww.org/content/portland-or-burgerville-workers-union-pickets-and-expands-more-stores" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Portland IDCBurgervilleRestaurant, Hotel, and Building Service Workers I.U. 640Tue, 30 Jan 2018 04:10:04 +0000IWW.org Editor9057 at https://www.iww.orgFirst Incarcerated Worker Industrial Union Branch Forminghttps://www.iww.org/content/first-incarcerated-worker-industrial-union-branch-forming
<p><strong>By IWOC - <a href="https://itsgoingdown.org/first-incarcerated-worker-industrial-union-branch-forming/" target="_blank">It's Going Down</a>, January 18, 2018</strong></p>
<p><em><span style="color: #000000;"><img src="https://www.iww.org/sites/default/files/images/1z.png" alt="" align="right" width="320" height="196" />The following article from the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) announces that the Mandingo Warriors & Associates has put in an application to be the first union branch to be chartered inside of prison.</span></em></p>
<p dir="ltr">The Industrial Workers of the World&rsquo;s (IWW) Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) is excited to announce our first Incarcerated Workers Industrial Union 613 branch application. The charter is currently being reviewed by the IWW's General Executive Board. When approved, this will be the first ever IU613 Branch in IWW history. In fact it will be the very first Incarcerated Workers union branch period. Below is their announcement of the formation and a riveting history of prison organizing over the past few decades.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">REVOLUTIONARY GREETINGS &amp; FELLOW WORKERS,</h2>
<p dir="ltr">On behalf of &ldquo;Mandingo Warriors &amp; Associates&mdash;IWW/IWOC,&rdquo; we would like to express our most sincere gratitude and appreciation regarding the valuable time, efforts and sacrifices that you, along with the entire IWW/IWOC revolutionary family of this Struggle, have put into this difficult and complex &ldquo;dilemma&rdquo; of pursuing the necessary steps required to &ldquo;effectively&rdquo; assist in the organizing of those of us, whom are incarcerated within the numerous &ldquo;Business Corporations&rdquo; disguised as &ldquo;Reformative Institutions&rdquo; (Aka Prisons), around Unifying Principles and a Universal Philosophy that is inclusive of all of Humanity (this is definitely a Struggle Rooted in Equality for all of Humanity and not just the Few &amp; Wealthy!)&hellip;.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We shall hope and pray that all of our Comrades, in the &ldquo;Semi-Free Society,&rdquo; are doing well and are enjoying the best of health possible. Your most recent communication (dated: 10/20/&rsquo;17) was well received and we look forward to receiving future communications from any and all IWW/IWOC members (with a robust invitation to the African People&rsquo;s Caucus) in the near future.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Before We/I begin to address your most recent letter, Comrade it is our responsibility to inform and make you guys aware of the latest developments concerning the Movement of our Branch&hellip; You guys will have no doubt noticed the change in name/title&mdash;&ldquo;Mandingo Warriors &amp; Associates&mdash;IWW/IWOC&rdquo; (M.W.A.&mdash;IWW/IWOC), from the previous name-- &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;&nbsp;A meeting was held, 10/27/&rsquo;17, in response to your letter and concerning IWW/IWOC&rsquo;s agenda in general. Amongst the few issues that were discussed and resolved, included the uncertainty of some, as-to whether IWW/IWOC represent the realities of True Revolutionary Movement, or, will the Tribe (another name used to describe the entirety of the M.W organization)&mdash;as a Revolutionary organization in-and-of-itself, be bounding itself, by mutual agreement, to Honor, Respect, Uphold and abide by the Constitution, By-Laws, Principles and General Philosophy (whenever related to IWW affairs) of a bunch of &ldquo;Armchair&rdquo; Revolutionaries, who pontificate upon revolutionary concepts, but, fall far short of actual Revolutionary Movement (The Tribe has been &ldquo;burnt&rdquo; by such &ldquo;revolutionary organizations&rdquo; before, in which &ldquo;they talk a good game,&rdquo; but, when the &ldquo;heat&rdquo; is turned-up they are &nbsp;nowhere to be found&hellip;)&hellip;</p>
<p><a href="https://www.iww.org/content/first-incarcerated-worker-industrial-union-branch-forming" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Incarcerated Workers Industrial Union 613IWOCTue, 23 Jan 2018 01:02:37 +0000IWW.org Editor9051 at https://www.iww.orgNew York: Wobbly Waiters Stage “Sip In” to Demand IWW Recognitionhttps://www.iww.org/node/9050
<p><strong>By Stardust Family Unted - <a href="https://itsgoingdown.org/new-york-wobbly-waiters-stage-sip-demand-iww-recognition/" target="_blank"><em>It's Going Down</em></a>, January 17, 2018 </strong></p>
<p><span style="color: #000000;"><em>This following report and video comes from the Stardust Family Diner, which is a group of workers who are fighting as part of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) to be in a union. Recently the workers won the rehiring of several dozen employees who were fired in an anti-union campaign conducted by management.&nbsp;</em></span></p>
<p align="center"><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fthanatosgonzales%2Fvideos%2F10154606622636155%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="317" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Some footage (video, above) from (January 16, 2018) &ldquo;Sip In&rdquo; at Stardust diner, where servers and former staff are fighting for the right to join a union (that&rsquo;s right, they&nbsp;<span class="text_exposed_show">don&rsquo;t even have the right to fight for their rights), along with a laundry list of other abuses perpetuated by management.</span></p>
<p>The idea was to disrupt the Saturday dinner rush&mdash;several arrived, were seated, and only ordered water (with copious amounts of lemon), stayed for an hour or so, tipped the server generously (so that they wouldn&rsquo;t be punished financially), and then as we left, told the manager that they should allow the servers to join the union.</p>
<p>The very talented singing staff started the action by singing Twister Sister&rsquo;s &ldquo;We&rsquo;re Not Gonna Take It&rdquo; (feat. in the musical &ldquo;School of Rock&rdquo;), then went into Woody Guthrie&rsquo;s &ldquo;Union Maid.&rdquo; During the chorus (&ldquo;Oh, you can&rsquo;t scare me, I&rsquo;m sticking to the union&hellip;&rdquo;), those participants in the diner, stood up, held their waters and ketchup bottles aloft and sang along (To the wtf-bewilderment of all the tourists). Then one of the servers who was fired last week for joining the union came in off the streets, grabbed a mic, and somehow turned &ldquo;New York, New York&rdquo; into an accusatory political anthem. She stood on the booth, pointed to the patrons, and after she belted the final note, raised her fist, and shouted &ldquo;Worker&rsquo;s Rights!&rdquo;</p>
<p>Best dinner in quite a while&hellip;</p>
<p><a href="https://www.iww.org/node/9050" target="_blank">read more</a></p>NYC GMBNYC iu460Foodstuff Workers Industrial Union 460Tue, 23 Jan 2018 00:52:25 +0000IWW.org Editor9050 at https://www.iww.org